Delhi government announces policy for scrapping old motor vehicles

Diesel vehicles older than 15 years found plying on roads or parked in public places will be impounded and will not be released to the owners.

The Transport Department of Government of NCT of Delhi has announced its latest policy for scrapping old vehicles in the region. The policy is supposed to help combat a lot of uncertainty surrounding over the implementation and execution of the NGT's 2014 order which stated that vehicles older than 15 years would not be allowed to ply on the roads of Delhi. The 'Guidelines for Scrapping of Motor Vehicles in Delhi, 2018' will be applicable to petrol and diesel vehicles older than 15 years.

Based on the guidelines, diesel vehicles older than 15 years, if found on the roads or parked in public places, will be impounded and will not be released to the owners. Instead, they will be directly handed over to a licensed scrapping centre. Petrol vehicles or CNG-powered vehicles of the same age will be returned to the registered owners against an undertaking, stating that the owner will neither ply the vehicle nor park it in any public place.

The main aim of the guidelines is to provide an authorised scrapping space to vehicle owners who need to dispose of their 'end of life' vehicles. It will also ensure that the scrapped vehicles cause no harm to the environment. 'An authorised scrapper shall maintain computerised records of the vehicles scrapped by him along with CCTV footage of the procedure…The live feed of the scrapping shall be made available to the operational control centre of the transport department on a 24x7 basis with backup facilities for three months,' the guidelines add.

However, the exact details of how and when these guidelines will come into effect are yet to be furnished by the concerned authorities.